We realise that widgets are ten-a-penny these days, but nonetheless here’s some interesting news for those who blog about fashion or celebrity news: UK-based The Nod has launched its own widget that will allow publishers to syndicate its content on their own sites.

As you’d expect, all you have to do is paste some code into the blog or social network template, with individual celebrity widgets available on each fan page.

As with most widgets, there’s an advantage on both sides. Smaller publishers get fresh content every day, while The Nod gets links to its site and merchandise. [Read more…]

There’s an interesting article on a Swedish online new site which suggests that fashion bloggers — seen as an increasingly influential group — could see themselves used as models in newspaper advertising campaigns by Kfem, a prominent Stockholm department store.

Firstly, various departments in the store will have a dedicated “digital dressing room” where shoppers can have their pictures taken in various clothing and have it put online immediately. It’s not clear whether this will be published on the store’s web site or if a customer can specify their own social media space/blog to have it uploaded to. [Read more…]

The times are changing and so are the blog networks, something that appeared to be a solid business model a couple of years back, but now deemed a rough one if you want to succeed. One company above others are being mentioned whenever blog networks are branded as a failed idea, and that’s b5media. Not because they have failed or anything, but rather because they have all these blogs, and no real focus.

Well, that’s about to change, and starting today at that.

The first big change is Splendicity, something of a portal page for the beauty and style channel at b5media. It’s not a new site, but with the redesign, b5media not only aims to bring something new to the table, they’re also reshaping the logistics of their blog network.

Or, to put it frankly, they have taken their 32 blog strong beauty and style channel, and converted them all to one big site: the new Splendicity.

As a new media practitioner, I’m always glad to see companies embracing the use of blogs and other new media not only to market their products and services, but more importantly to reach out to their audience and be part of the community. In this case, fashion and blogging are a good mix, as we can see with the recent launch of the C’N’C Costume National Blog, to complement its existing website. As a new media publication, the C’N’C blog serves more as a photoblog instead of a text-based blog, as the content is mostly photographs of fashion shows, events and C’N’C offerings.

Being a fashion-oriented blog, the C’N’C Costume National Blog does not only have photos of its own events and products, though. It also features what I think is more important in the industry C’N’C is in: the fashion scene around the world, particularly in C’N’C hometown of Italy.

The C’N’C blog also allows users to join the Costume National Community by signing up and signing in with their own accounts. Users can then leave comments to existing posts and photos, with their own gravatars displayed on the comment thread (and also on the front page).

Now that I’ve mentioend Italy being the hometown of C’N’C, perhaps it’s also good to mention that the site is available in English and Italian.

I’m not too fond of fashion shows, but whenever I chance upon runway shows I try to check out the latest trends. After all, being a (wannabe) photographer, fashion photography is one area I still haven’t explored and studied much. The C’N’C blog does feature the latest fashion shows and events, model castings, and other projects.

One comment I have with the blog though is its use of a horizontal-oriented layout, rather than the usual vertical approach of blogs. It’s a bit strange to navigate. But again, with the site consisting mostly of photos, this is an effective use of this kind of layout. Also, I’m not too comfortable with heavy use of dynamic HTML to display pages. It is indeed more interactive, and the animations are appealing. But in terms of accessibility, particularly to those with low bandwidth, and those with difficulty browsing such media-rich pages, the site may be difficult to browse.

Still, with the target audience of the blog being being the young, upscale crowd, a multimedia-rich approach is perhaps appropriate. If you are in any way interested in fashion, do pay the C’N’C blog a visit.

Disclaimer: This review was written upon request by C’N’C Costume National.